DENVER — Xcel and other energy companies are feeling that heat.
Customers are complaining about energy bills three and four times what they were this time last year, while Xcel made $1.7 billion in profit in 2022.
Perhaps that's why a coalition of energy companies - Xcel, Black Hills, Atmos Energy - announced that they, along with Colorado oil and gas groups, are giving a million dollars to help low-income families pay their bills. Those groups include Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) members, PDC Energy, Occidental, Liberty Energy, DCP Midstream and COGA’s Colorado Energy Foundation, according to COGA CEO Dan Haley.
Once you do the math, though, $1 million is not much.
"We're making a commitment of $500,000 ourselves, and our partners are also making a commitment, we're going to reach over a million dollars,” said Robert Kenney, Xcel Energy Colorado President.
Energy Outreach Colorado will be the recipient of most of the money. It's a group that helps provide payment assistance to customers who need help.
“One-in-four Coloradans currently qualifies for energy assistance programs,” said Jennifer Grammert, Energy Outreach Colorado Executive Director. “Our toll-free call center, 1-866-HEAT-HELP is receiving 16,000-18,000 calls a week from people requiring energy assistance.”
According to Energy Outreach Colorado, 751 applicants received $528,660 between Jan. 30 and Feb. 5. That is $528,000 for one week’s worth of help. Which is more than the $500,000 that Xcel is contributing.
“This is in addition to the ongoing support that we provide Energy Outreach Colorado, that’s about $19 million a year,” Kenney said. “This is an incremental amount of money on top of other dollars that we do provide over the course of the year.”
Here is why “we” does not really mean Xcel as a company.
According to Energy Outreach Colorado, Xcel provides 5,000 company dollars to sponsor a golf tournament in August.
The rest of the money Energy Outreach Colorado receives from Xcel is really money that ratepayers pay Xcel through their bills.
Part of the line items or “riders” that customers pay for, like “Demand Side Management” and “Transportation Cost Adjustment,” goes to fund payment assistance that goes to Energy Outreach Colorado.
There is also the new 75-cent Energy Assistance Charge on both your electric and gas bills that helps fund that payment assistance.
Energy Outreach Colorado also said that late fees paid to Xcel get sent to the organization to fund payment assistance.
If Xcel really gives $19 million to Energy Outreach Colorado, Energy Outreach Colorado said that it all comes from ratepayers except for the $5,000 golf sponsorship.
So, is Xcel even funding the $500,000 contribution or is that also coming from ratepayers?
“This $500,000 that we’re committing is not going to come out of customer rates, this is shareholder funded dollars,” Kenney said.
The most popular question emailed to NEXT regarding high energy bills is why does Xcel, with a 2022 profit of $1.7 billion, not use any of its profits to reduce customer bills.
We asked Xcel CEO Bob Frenzel that viewer question at the news conference.
“Sure, I appreciate the question and the feedback, and I am particularly interested in addressing our customers’ concerns. At the end of the day, we’re trying to make sure that our product is affordable, reliable and safe for our customers and increasingly sustainable,” Frenzel said. “We reinvest our profits back into our company every single year, and so that idea that we’re not investing in our infrastructure -- last year across our enterprise, you mentioned $1.7 billion, last year we spent over $5 billion in capital improvements across our eight states, that included that $1.7 billion in that income.”
Xcel covers eight states: Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
“We do believe we are giving back to our communities and our customers through reinvestment into our networks, making the necessary investments that we need for a safe, reliable and affordable future,” Frenzel said.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Jared Polis (D) held a news conference to announce new directives to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and the Colorado Energy Office regarding high energy bills.
However, many of those directives would not take effect until next winter or beyond.
The PUC approves gas rate increase requests. When the PUC approved Xcel’s most recent gas rate increase, which took effect in November, it included $2 million to reimburse Xcel for outside legal help it hired to argue for the rate increase.
We asked Polis if he knew that that was included in base rates and if he was OK with the PUC saying yes to costs like that.
“No, I don’t think expenses like advertising or fighting against consumer protections or lobbying should be included in base rates that ratepayers are forced to pay,” Polis said, "[I] would be happy to look at how we can avoid that from occurring, whether that’s through action at the PUC or if that necessitates legislation.”
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